Injury study being conducted at CONCACAF youth tourney.
By: Andrew Hancel (Jamaican Observer).[/size]
Bacolet, Tobago - The use of artificial turf could become the norm in football depending on the outcome of a FIFA-sanctioned study during three youth tournaments in Trinidad and Tobago this year.
The purpose of the study is to determine the frequent level of injuries sustained by youth footballers on artificial turfs as against natural grass surfaces.
Among footballers, it is widely believed that higher incidents of injuries occurred playing on artificial surfaces, but this latest study, which has already started, could prove otherwise.
Synthetic turf, which became popular throughout the 1980s, was later banned by football's world governing body, FIFA and the European Football Association (UEFA), as players began sustaining more injuries playing on such a surface, while fans found the false turf aesthetically unappealing.
Now some two decades onwards both FIFA and UEFA appeared to have slacked the ban, after scientists developed a "third generation artificial turf" believed to be more suitable for players and playing.
The ongoing CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championships being played in Trinidad and Tobago and the upcoming Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Under-15 and Under-17 Girls' and Men's tournaments respectively, have been selected to conduct the study.
During the three tournaments, a total of 27 matches will be played on artificial grass as against 35 games on natural surfaces, allowing researchers to document and produce an accurate analysis.
A programme known as the SPSS Student Version 15.0 will be used to analyse data which will make comparisons of injuries occurring on grass versus artificial turf.
In a release issued to team doctors and physiotherapists involved in the CONCACAF Women's Under-17 Championships, it states that "recent studies show that no significant increased incidence of injury" takes place among adult players playing on either surfaces in European leagues. However, the release failed to mention when, where and the duration of this study on European leagues took place.
According to the release "no controlled studies" between artificial and grass surfaces have been done in youth football. Group A of the Under-17 women's tournament is being played at the Marvin Lee Stadium which is laid with artificial grass.
The games to be played on grass will act as the control group for the study that has been granted ethical approval by the Sports Foundation Ethics Committee.
